Once upon a time, in a land far away, when magic still filled the air and monsters still roamed the land, there lived a singularly happy young princess. Her name was Kimberly, both plucky and beautiful, she was all of twenty years old.
One day, on a fine early summer afternoon the princess, took a walk to the village to do some shopping. Her daddy, King John the Brave, was off on one of his many misadventures, somewhere, and was due back in a day or two and Kimberly wanted to welcome him home with some sort of small gift.
Half way toward the village, the princess paused alongside the road to rest. She was both tired and thirsty thanks to the warm noon day's sun. The peaceful road, at this point, ran adjacent to the dark and mysterious West Woods, making it maybe not such a good spot to stop and rest. No matter the danger, the princess, fearless as always stopped anyways.
Peering into the stillness of the forest as she sat on the ground resting, the princess suddenly found herself spellbound. All the leaves on the trees seemed to be waving at her, despite there being nary a breeze. Leaning forward, she squinted at the trees. Now they seemed to be calling out to her, whispering her name maybe. She stood up, moving across the road, wanting to be closer to the woods so she could better hear the mysterious whispering.
This particular part of the woods was rumored to be especially enchanted, thus there ran a formidable stone wall along the length of the woods in this area. The wall was there to keep curious villagers out, or maybe to keep unsavory creatures in. Regardless, the princess was now more than a little curious, especially as she spied a medium sized brown dog digging excitedly along the base of the wall not ten feet from where she now stood.
"Hey little puppy what are you doing," the princess called out. "You can't go in there. It isn't safe."
The dog ignored her and continued to dig into the mushy earth under the wall at a rapid pace. Standing this close, the hypnotic chorus from the singing trees was growing louder. So loud, in fact, it was now becoming a repetitive whisper, "Come Kimberly, come play in the woods with us," the trees seemed to be whispering.
Just then the little dog disappeared under the wall. Princess Kimberly moved closer to where the dog was digging. There was now a small trough, clearly visible, under wall where the dog had just been digging.
The princess bent over, looking at the trough thoughtfully. She smiled, fully under the spell of the whispering forest now, as she realized with just a little more work the trough could be expanded enough for a human, a not so very large and nimble princess that is, to use.
Looking around, she spotted a piece of wood, most likely from a broken horse cart, leaning up against the wall just a few feet away. Using the piece of wood as a shovel, the princess worked frantically to enlarge the trough. The forest, with the leaves all rustling on the trees, and the trees all swaying in the non-existence breeze, was now, more than ever, beckoning her to enter.
She tossed the piece of wood aside. The trench was now large enough where a determined and athletic girl like herself, the princess was five foot four and weighed roughly 115 pounds, should just be able to work her way under the stone wall.
Kimberly hesitated, looking around. The road leading to the village was deserted. She, like all young girls in and around the kingdom, grew up hearing about the legendary West Woods and how very dangerous, and magical, they were --especially for pretty young virgins.
She knew she should not even be thinking about this, yet this very thought was what made it so appealing. Without giving it any further consideration, the princess dropped to the ground and quickly squirmed under the wall.
After jumping to her feet, Kimberly found herself in a small meadow. Weaving its way across the small meadow, not more than a few feet wide, was a simple dirt path leading into the dark forest.
Kimberly, curious as to where following this path might lead her, struck out on her adventure. In not less than fifteen minutes, after following the twisting, turning path deeper into the woods she was hopelessly lost.
She thought of trying to back track but while following the dirt trail she came across no less than three different forks in the path. Based on nothing more than a whim, she backtracked until she found one of the forks and followed it.
Spying an old tree stump astride yet another fork in the path, the princess plopped down on it needing a short break. Yeah, she was lost and scared. The notorious wicked West Woods was no place to be lost. Why did she have to be so damn curious and want to go exploring here in the woods in the first place.
Her rest on the tree stump was short lived when, off to her left, she heard a commotion in the nearby forest. It sounded like someone or maybe something, was crashing through the woods... and heading directly toward her.
She hopped to her feet, hurrying down the path not even realizing she left her small knapsack of supplies behind. She barely got on her way before she heard the unmistakable sound of grunting behind her. Whatever was previously blundering its way through the woods was now on the path-- and following behind her.
Turning around, her heart rate trebled. Behind her, and closing fast, was a small pack of goblins. There was four of them, chasing her, and they were, in a word, hideous looking.
Turning around turned out to be a grave mistake for with her attention diverted Kimberly lost track of what lay in her path straight ahead-- a large protruding rock.
Her right foot struck the rock, causing the princess to stumble and then fall. The lead goblin crashed full force into her just as she regained her feet.
They tumbled together to the ground with the hideous creature clinging tight to her. These goblins, they were all young and not yet full grown--otherwise Kimberly would have been in real trouble-- were actually on their first hunt and lacked skills as evidenced by the easy way the terrified princess managed to push the goblin off of her.
Jumping to her feet, she considered fleeing again but she was terribly winded by now and her right ankle throbbed mightily. She must have twisted it when her foot struck the rock. Running would only make her more tired and easier for the pack of goblins to subdue her when they caught her---which they would, sooner or later.
No, she would make her stand here, especially after she spied a large wooden branch laying just off to the right of the path within easy reach.
Turning, she seized the branch. It was nice and thick and would serve as a passable weapon.
The first goblin, regaining his feet, moved in closer to her as the other three goblins pulled up short.
"Oye, Borch," one of the three snorted, "she threw you off like nothins."
"Shuts up," Borch snapped back at his companion, "I gets the bitch. You see."
"Aye, we be waitin..." another of the pack sang out.
"Stay back," the princess yelled as she waved the stick at the menacing lead goblin whose name was apparently Borch.
An ugly name for an ugly critter, the princess thought as the goblin circled her warily.
"Go ons, attack alreadys," the other three sang out in unison.
"Shuts up," Borch again snapped.
"You be scared of a little girl eh," said one of the three. "Hmm, maybes you need our helps," another cackled.
"Not evens... stay back. I got the bitch..."
Suddenly, Borch charged straight at the princess. He made no attempt to be elusive in the least allowing the princess to easily smack him full on in the face with the stout wooden branch.
Borch, like his companions, barely three feet tall, hit the ground in a heap.
"Yeah, you like that," the princess fairly shouted at Borch. Taking a step closer to her fallen adversary she yelled, "You want some more."
Borch, siting on his butt still, scooted backwards-- it was almost comical-- away from the princess and her menacing stick. He was bleeding from his smack to the face and seemed dazed and confused.
Turning to face the other three, the princess, her blood was up, bawled out a warning, "I will thrash any of you who comes near me. You got that!"
There was only one problem with her dire warning: she was shouting her warning at only two goblins. Where was the third? She soon found out. One of them took the chance while she was busy focusing her attention on Borch to slip around to the princess' blind side and now he came charging at her full on, hitting her squarely in the side and knocking her to the ground.
Unfortunately, the thick branch she was sporting as a formidable weapon went flying out of her hand and out of reach when she hit the ground.
The other two quickly jumped on her. It soon turned into a mad scramble as the three small goblins fought the bigger and stronger princess' tooth and nail.
Although the princess fought the good fight, without a weapon, the odds were stacked against her. The three goblins were quickly wearing her down as they fought wildly on the ground. Twice, the princess almost was able to get to her feet, but both times the clawing, grasping hands from all three of the goblins were simply too much and she was dragged back down.
Just when she was nearly at the end of her strength, Kimberly heard the sound of a galloping horse. It was coming her way.
"Help... please help!" she managed to yell and when the goblins turned toward the sound of the galloping horse, the princess was almost able to make it to her feet. But just before she was able to do so the largest of the three goblins threw his full weight onto her mid-section, knocking her back to the ground and holding her there.
What happened next was all a blur. A man on horseback came charging into the fray, slashing at the goblin sitting on her mid-section, with a sword. The goblin went tumbling off of her, clutching at his neck as a spout of greenish blood came spurting from this fatal blow.
The man on horseback circled back, the horse snorting mightily, they too did not care for goblins, to finish the job. A second quick slash, this time to the goblin's throat when the creature attempted to scramble to his feet, nearly beheaded him.
Kimberly looked on stunned. The man on horseback was not just any ordinary man but a brave warrior with a mighty reputation-- King John the Brave. Not only was he the king-- but he was her father.
John was just raising his sword to slash down at the nearer of the two remaining goblins, Borch seemingly having disappeared, when one of them flung a wooden throwing star at him.
The star's aim was true, embedding itself in the king's forearm holding the sword. The goblin, they may have been small, but they were awfully quick, dipped into pocket of the dirty brown leather toga he was wearing, producing a second star which he immediately flung at the king.
This time the star was on a much more lethal course as it was heading directly for the king's handsome face. He managed to violently twist away as the five pointed star flew by, grazing the side of his face, leaving a bloody trail.
Blood poured from the king's cheek as his sword slipped from his hand.
Just as the goblin was reaching into his pocket again, the princess violently lashed out with her foot, catching the goblin unaware as her foot slammed into his right leg, throwing him off balance.
King John used the opening to draw his small battle axe from its leather holder at his waist. Letting fly with it, the axe found its mark, burying itself dead on in the middle of the star throwing goblin's forehead. Two down, one to go!
